GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

Sacha[_1_] · 12-01-2007, 07:10 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

On 12/1/07 19:03, in article , "Bob
Hobden" wrote:

"Sacha" wrote after "Bob
Hobden" wrote:

snip
We have a constant problem with slugs both on the previous allotment and
the
new one.
Tried Nematodes, rather expensive and no discernable difference to other
years, they need the ground kept nice and moist which can be difficult
here
some summers. Cheaper to buy organic spuds ready grown.

Is the keeping the ground moist problem due to a hosepipe ban for you,
Bob?
I ask because, otherwise, those wishing to use nematodes might not have
that
problem. It's not just the potatoes, though, it's the other goodies slugs
just lurve.

Our Council do not allow the use of hosepipes on any of their allotments
ever. So keeping a potato bed damp with watering cans, especially in a
summer like we had last year, is a backbreaking and virtually impossible
job.

Ah, that's what I thought might be the case. Let's hope this winter
alleviates that for you. Right now and round here, we have more water than
we know what to do with!

I also wonder if those tiny nematodes don't like clay soil, find it hard to
move through.

I don't know but later on, I'll see if Ray does.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/